Tired of Exercising?

3 Ways of Alleviating Exercise Fatigue

Have you ever felt the sweet, subtle pain in your muscles after you work out? It feels nice, right? Like it’s a natural token given to you to remind yourself that you managed to get off your bottom and exercise. The ache stays for a few hours, and then it leaves, leaving you more determined to stick to a workout routine. But imagine if the pain settles in deep in your muscles and refuses to leave for days at a time. Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it?

Exercising tires you out. How often and how severely depends on whether you are used to rigorous physical activity and the level of tolerance that your body has built towards it. People who are just starting out tend to get tired very quickly and easily. They have to keep at it till their body starts getting used to it. But even people who regularly gym and exercise often get extremely fatigued post-workouts, especially if it was an intense one.

Exercise fatigue can be nasty. It can leave you feeling lethargic, your muscles cramping and your energy drained. Worst of all, it can stay for days! It makes routine activities like climbing stairs, squatting, or stretching seem challenging because it hurts so much.

What Causes Exercise Fatigue?

While there can be many underlying reasons for fatigue, like sleep deprivation, mineral deficiency, or depression, the fatigue you feel after exercising is mainly because of lactic acid. When you’re exerting your body, your muscles are burning carbohydrates without oxygen as your body isn’t used to maintaining such a quick supply of oxygen. The process produces lactic acid, which is the culprit of your muscles aching during rigorous exercising.

Exercise fatigue can manifest itself through muscle soreness, localized pain, muscle twitches and trembling, shortness of breath, and a weak grip. Perseverance of the symptoms can lead to limited physical movement and activity in the days following.

What Can You Do to Control or Avoid the Fatigue?

push yourself too hard in the beginning. Start off slow, and build your endurance. Once you have trained your body to quicken up its supply of oxygen to your muscles, the lactic acid production slows, and the cramps become manageable. If you get carried away during your first few times working out, you might give up altogether because of the pain. 

• Hot and Cold Therapy

Cryotherapy or cold therapy works to relieve pain by limiting blood flow to a joint or tendon that might have swelling and inflammation. On the other hand, heat therapy works by encouraging blood circulation to the pain points. The temperature itself can provide slight comfort from the soreness and sting.

• Try Out BCCA Supplements

BCCAs are supposed to help with delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS), which occurs after a while of exercising because of tiny tears in the muscles post-workout. Studies show that BCCAs help prevent muscle damage by limiting protein breakdown and serotonin production.